Emergency door holder and closer



Sept. 5, 1933. N, B, HURD 1,925,386

EMERGENCY DOOR HOLDER AND CLOSER Filed Oct. 27, 1932 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS,

Patented Sept. 5, 1933 FFICE 1,925,386 EMERGENCY noon HOLDER AND oLosER' Norman B. Hurd, Newington, Conn, assignor to The American Hardware Corporation, New

Britain, Conn, a corporation of Connecticut Application October 27, 1932. Serial No. 639,811

11 Claims. (01. 1s9 49) My invention relates to a door controlling mechanism, the object being to provide an efficient means whereby the door may be held ajar at any desired angle and yet be instantly re- 5leased and mechanically. closed in the event of fire. I

The object of my invention is to provide a thoroughly dependable, efiicient and simple mechanism involving the use of a fusible element so positioned that it will be instantly melted by such a change in temperature as would occur in the case of fire in the locality of the door whereupon the mechanical door closer will at once shut the door. 4

In the accompanying drawing- Fig. 1 is a plan view on'a reduced scale showing my invention as applied to a door, the latter being shown as closed; 1

Fig. 2 is a similar View showing the door opened 20 to a position in which the holder is operating to hold the door in that position, the dotted lines indicating one of the positions of the mechanism as the door is being closed;

Fig. 3 is a relatively enlarged view of certain parts in the same position as shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an edge elevation of certain parts, said view being partly in section.

1 represents one side of a'door casing, 2 a door, and 3 an overhead part'of the door casing. 4 represents conventionally a mechanical door check and closer, the same being attached to the door near its upper edge. 5 is a lower arm fixed on the closer shaft 6 and provided'at its free end with a bearing ring 7 in which is freely mounted the hub 8 on the lower side of a friction head 9 held in place by a washer 10. 11 is a link which is pivotally connected at one end to the overhead door casing as at 12. The opposite end of link 11- carries a friction head 13 which faces the friction head 9. 14 is a screw threaded connection between said heads; the;

lower end of which extends into a threaded passage in the head-9. 15 is an angular piece located intermediate the length of the screw '14 and preferably integral therewith; The friction head 13 has an angular passage which corresponds to the piece 15 so that when the head 13 turns, it will turn the screw 14. On the upper end of the screw 14 above the angular piece 15 is an adjusting nut 16. The screw connection 14 acts asa pivotal connection between the heads 913 and also serves to bring them together cr to separate them according to the direction 'in which these parts are turned relatively to each other.v The head 9 carries a short arm 17 ex tending radially therefrom which under normal operating conditions is locked to the lever arm 5. Under abnormal conditions, these parts 517 are unlocked so that the arm 5 may turn on the hub 8, thus permitting the door closer to shut the door in the usual manner. The means'for locking the arm 5 to the arm 17 is controlled'by a fusible element which may be termed a link. Under normal conditions the fuse 18 is intact and said parts 5-17 will be locked together, but the instant said fuse melts, the locking mechanism will be released to permit the arm 5 to turn freely on hub 8 while' the friction heads 9-13 will still remain in frictional engagement, it being unnecessary to provide any'mechanism to guarantee freeing the latter. This freeing of the arm 5 from the arm 17 when the fuse melts always occurs with certainty and at the same in-. stant so as to leave the closer entirely free to operate to shut the door. On the arm 17 is an upstanding lug 19. 20 is a tripper arm pivoted at 21 on the arm 5. This tripper arm 20 has a lug 22 which, under normal conditions, stands in front of thelug l9 to prevent the arm 5 from turning clockwise (as viewed in Fig. 2) away from the short arm 17. The tripper 20'has at its free end a lug 23. 24 is a latch pivoted at 25 to the arm 5 on a plane below the tripper arm 20. 24 is a lug which normally stands in front of lug 23 to hold the tripper 20 in looking position. '26 is a bell crank pivoted at 2'7 on the short arm 1'7. 28 is a spring carried by arm 17 and pressing against one arm of the bell crank to normally move the other arm of said bell crank in a direction away from the free end of the latch 24. 29 is a short link pivotally connected. at 30 to the free end of the latch 24 and having a hook at its free end. 31 is, a similar. link pivotally connected at 32 to the outer arm of the bell crank 26 and also having a hook at its free end. The fuse 18 is preferably in the form of a short strip or link of fusible material having a'hole at each end into which the hooked ends of the short links 29 31 may extend to hold said fuse in operative position. At such a time, the. spring 28 operates to put slight tension on the fuse to 7 ensure holding it in place. 33 is a back stop on the arm 5 against which one side of the short arm 17 rests when the parts of the latching mechanism are in the normal position shown in Fig. 3.

Operation.Now assuming the parts stand as indicated in solid lines in Fig. 2, which illustrate the door asopened to a predetermined degree' (determined by the adjustment of the'nut 16) in which the friction heads 9-13 are jammed together with suflicient firmness to hold said arm and link 11 against movement by the closer i. In the event a fire occurs, the heat generated 5 thereby will instantly melt the fuse 18, thus releasing the latch 24 which in turn releases the tripper 20 whereby the pressure exerted against the lug 22 by the lug 19 will cause said tripper to instantly swing back on its pivot 21 freeing 1c the lug 19 and thus freeing the arm 5 from the short arm 17. Under such conditions, the closer 4 may now function to shut the door since the closer arm 5 is mounted freely on the hub 8. When the emergency is past, the tripper and latch may be restored to the position shown in Fig. 3 and a new fuse 18 may be engaged between the links 29-31 to remain there until the next emergency occurs. It will be observed that the fuse 18 is so exposed that its temperature is not influenced nor its melting retarded by contact with or proximity to any other part of the holder.

It will also be observed that it is not necessary toprovide means to break the frictional engage-' ment between the heads 913 in order to permit the door closer to function.

I claim:

1. In a door closer and holder, a closer arm,.a link, a friction head at one end ofv said link, a second friction head, a screw connectionbetween 30 said heads to move the same toward and away from each other for frictional engagement and disengagement, a pivotal connection between said closer arm and said secondfriction head, means to lock said closer arm to said second friction 5*) head to prevent relative turning movement between said parts, and a fusible device to release said lock in case of fire to permit the closer to shut the door..

2. In a door closer and holder, a closer arm, a link, a friction head at one end of said link, a second friction head, a screw connection between said heads to move the same toward and away from each other, apivotal connection between said closer arm and said second friction head, means to lock said closer arm to said second friction head to prevent relative turning movement between said parts, said means including an on said second friction head overlapping said closer arm, and a fusible device to release said :;lock in case of fire to permit the closer to shut the door.

3. In a door closer and holder, a closer arm, a link, a friction head at one end of said link, a second friction head, a screw connection between W; said heads to move the same toward and away from each other, a pivotal connection between said closer arm and said second friction head, means to lock said closer arm to said second friction head to prevent relative turning movement between 3 said parts, said means including an arm on said second friction head overlapping said closer arm, a fusible device to release said lock in case of fire to permit the closer to shut the door, and a W pivoted tripper carried by one arm and normally "3 I1 engaging theother arm.

4. In a door closer and holder, a closer arm, a link, a friction head at one end of said link, a second friction head, a screw connectionbetween M said heads to move the same toward and away i .I from each other, apivotal connection between said closer arm and said second friction head, means to lock said closer arm to-said second friction head to prevent relative turning movement W between said parts, said means including an arm NE. on said second friction head overlapping said closer arm, a fusible device to release said lock in case of fire to permit the closer to shut the door, a pivoted tripper carried by one arm and normally engaging the other arm, and a latch for holding and freeing said tripper.

5. In a door closer and holder, a closer arm, a link, a friction head at oneend of said link, a second friction head, a screw connection between said heads to move the same toward and away from each other, a pivotal connection between said closer arm and said second friction head, means to lock said closer arm to said second friction head to prevent relative turning movement between said parts, said means including an armon said second friction head overlapping said closer arm, a fusible device to release said lock in case of fire to permit the closer to shut the door, a pivoted tripper carried by one arm and normally engaging the other arm, and a latch for holding and freeing said tripper, said fusible device being connected to said latch.

6..In a door closer and holder, two frictionheads, a screw threaded pivotal connection between said heads, said screwturning in one of said heads and slidably connected with the other, a closer arm pivoted on one of said heads concentrically with said screw connection, a link connected to said other head to turn the same relatively to said first head, an arm extending laterally from the last mentioned head, means for connecting together both of said arms for normal operation including a fusible device which when melted releases said connection to permit said closer mechanism to shut the door.

7. In a mechanical door holder and closer, closer mechanism including a link, two arms each pivotally connected to said link, said arms being capable of independent rotative movement under one condition, holding means to prevent said independent rotative movement under another condition, said means including a fusible device which when ruptured'releases said holding means to permit movement of one of said arms relatively to the other to close the door.

8. In a. mechanical door holder and closer, an arm, a link pivoted thereto, a friction device adapted to frictionally bind said arm and link together at any predetermined angle, a closer arm pivoted to said link, and means to detachably engage said closer arm with said short arm, said means including a fusible device which when ruptured releases said closer arm from the other arm without releasing the frictional engagement between the link and said other arm.

9. In a door closer and holder, two friction heads, a screw threaded pivotal connection between said heads, said screw turning in one of said heads and slidably connected with the other,

a closer arm pivoted on one of said heads concentrically with said screw connection, a link connected to said other head to turn the'same relatively to said first head, an arm extending laterally from the last mentioned'head, means for connecting together both of said: arms for normal operation including a fusible device which when melted releases said connection to permit said closer mechanism to shut the door, and adjusting means to vary the degree to which the head that is slidable on said screw connection may slide thereon. 7

10. In a door holder and closentwo .pivotally connected relatively rotatable friction engageable members, a link rigidly connected to'one of said members, a closer arm pivoted to the other of said members, means for locking said closer other arm being rotatably mounted on the other head, locking means when in looking position preventing the last mentioned arm from rotating on said last mentioned head and when in its unlocking position freeing said parts to permit them to turn relatively to each other, and a fuse to hold said locking means in its locking position while said fuse is intact.

NORMAN B. HURD.

DISCLAIMER 1,925,386.N0rman B. Hard, Newington, Conn. EMERGENCY Doon, HOLDER AND CLosER. Patent dated September 5, 1933. Disclaimer filed November 19, 1935, by the assignee, The American Hardware Corporation. Hereby enters this disclaimer of that part of the invention defined in claims 7 end 11 thereof.

[Ofiicial Gazette December 8, 1936.] 

